Matchim gets chance to overturn baby assault conviction

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A St. John's man who was convicted last year of assaulting his baby daughter will return to court this fall in a bid to get another trial.

Colin Matchim, 27, was found guilty in May 2011 of aggravated assault involving a 2009 incident that injured his daughter, who was just three and a half months old at the time.

But the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador is setting aside the first two weeks of October to hear Matchim's application to challenge the evidence presented at his first trial.

Matchim's lawyers plan to call five or six medical experts — from as far away as the United States and the United Kingdom — to counter claims that Matchim deliberately shook his daughter with such force that she sustained permanent brain damage.

The Crown will call at least one expert.

But when prosecutor Phil LeFeuvre told the court that that expert might not be available in early October, Justice Wayne Dymond said the case has been going on long enough.

Matchim applied for a retrial before he could be sentenced for last year's conviction.